Rapid-fire Response Needed: Collaboration and the Columbian Fisher population
Rapid-fire Response Needed: Collaboration and the Columbian Fisher population
This is a collaborative project between the ACME Lab at the University of Victoria, Alkali Resource Management, Eskâetemc Nation, and the Mesocarnivore Team at the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. The work focuses on monitoring fishers (Pekania pennanti), mesocarnivores in general and wildlife of interest for the community, mainly through a lens of how wildlife respond to fire and forestry. Fisher populations in British Columbia are facing a sharp decline and are projected to be extirpated from central BC within the next decade. We are working to confirm the presence of fishers, their prey, and other mustelids through the use of camera traps, monitoring them across portions of their known range in interior BC. By assessing fisher population size and distribution in the southern interior, habitat stewardship efforts, led by the team at Alkali Resource Management, can be optimized to protect and enhance fisher habitats. Fishers, along with other members of the weasel family, remain understudied in terms of how landscape-scale fires, human activity, and forest harvesting affect them.
Project Leads: Alexia Constantinou ; Joanna Burgar ; Jason Fisher ; Francis Johnson
Affiliations: ACME Lab (University of Victoria); Mesocarnivore Team (Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship); Esk'etemc Nation; Alkali Resource Management
Focal Species: Fisher; Other Mustelid spp.; All mammals
Publications:
Feature: Collaborative Research to Fill Mesocarnivore (Fisher) Knowledge Gaps
College Matters (College of Applied Biology, pg 14) | 2024